A team at the Brunel Centre for the Study of Arbitration and Cross-Border Investment, led by Tony Cole, has been requested by the European Parliament to undertake a study on the law and practice of arbitration in the European Union and Switzerland under contract IP/C/JURI/IC/2013047. The study concerns arbitration in all its forms, including international…
The recent Bangladesh factory disaster has brought the plight of labourers in developing countries to the forefront in the international arena. Reforms in the labour legislations in Bangladesh have been demanded, which could lead to the implementation of stricter labour standards in the country. This could possibly lead to investment arbitration claims against Bangladesh, if…
The views expressed are those of the author alone and should not be regarded as representative of or binding upon the author’s law firm.1)Dr. Pair works at LP-Legal in Zürich, Switzerland. She is licensed to practice law in the US, Germany and Switzerland, and teaches at the Universities of Geneva and St. Gallen. Consolidation of multiple…
By Ben Knowles and Khaled Moyeed at Clyde & Co LLP A recent arbitration award has highlighted the question of the enforceability of forfeiture provisions in oil and gas JOAs. The effect of such provisions is that a defaulting party forfeits its participating interest (“PI“) in a project on account of a default, such as…
The views expressed are those of the author alone. Technology in arbitration is of course a vast subject which has been addressed extensively by a number of writers. This article focuses briefly on the issue of reducing paper in arbitrations. It considers: How are practitioners currently dealing with paper reduction at the various stages of…
Co-authored by Christopher Smith and James Menz, Schellenberg Wittmer On 10 January 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a highly anticipated decision in Consorcio Ecuatoriano de Telecomunicaciones S.A. v. JAS Forwarding (USA), Inc., 2014 WL 104132 (11th Cir. Jan. 10, 2014) (hereinafter Consorcio II). The holding vacated the same panel’s…
and Oleg Temnikov “Put forth your best” by Bill Clennan The contest lasts for moments Though the training’d taken years. It wasn’t winning alone that was worth the work and tears. The applause will be forgotten The prize will be misplaced. But the long hard hours of practice will never be a waste. For in…
By Justin D’Agostino and Sean Izor In the past, arbitration laws and arbitral institutions in Asia have often been seen as less well developed when compared to their Western counterparts. However, just as Asia’s economies have grown at a rapid pace, catching up to (or surpassing) those of Europe and the United States, so has…
As leading jurisdictions around the world continue to establish national courts dedicated to the oversight of international arbitration issues, one wonders whether this is an idea whose time has come. This issue was previously discussed on this blog in September 2010. Much progress has been made in the intervening years. The most recent jurisdiction to…
The Board of Directors of the “ACL Arbitration Centre” (the Arbitration Centre of the “Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Lisbon Commercial Association”) recently approved a new set of rules for arbitration proceedings administrated under its auspices. Along with the new rules, the Board also approved an “Arbitrator’s Code of Ethics”. Divided into 9…
On 20 December 2013, the final phase in the Indus Waters Kishenganga Arbitration was completed with the rendering of a Final Award by the seven-member Court of Arbitration (“Court”) tasked with resolving the latest water dispute between Pakistan and India. The Court was constituted in 2010 following a Request for Arbitration submitted by Pakistan under…
and Dr. Günther J. Horvath, Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Should we blame the new entrants (or the old dogs) or are we experiencing a general lowering of ethical standards? The Chief Justice of Singapore, Sundaresh Menon, already has a reputation for addressing sensitive issues of international arbitration and fueling debate. At the Chartered Institute of…
Under the direction of the Swiss Arbitration Association (“ASA”), a recent questionnaire asked 82 of the world’s most prestigious arbitral institutions, among other questions, whether they had insurance for professional liability claims. There are very few empirical studies in this area, but the survey indicated that only few institutions made an effort to answer; and…
In the recent decision of the Tel-Aviv District Court in S. Elia Holdings Ltd. and Arie Shasha v. Ron Itzhaky, the plaintiffs were effectively estopped from bringing claims against a non-signatory under a contract containing an arbitration clause. The plaintiffs in the case are a private Israeli company engaged in real-estate entrepreneurship (“Elia Holdings”) and…
and Anna Tkachova, Asters Court practice shows that sometimes while considering applications on recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards, Ukrainian courts apply Ukrainian legislation in an arbitrary manner. In this post we will analyze the legal grounds used by Ukrainian courts in consideration of an application seeking recognition and enforcement of an award issued…
and Matthew Lam, Partner, Clyde & Co As announced recently on this blog Chinese Court Decision Summaries on Arbitration, edited by WunschARB, were recently published by Kluwer Arbitration. The case summaries are a welcome addition to the Kluwer Arbitration database, particularly given the paucity of caselaw analysis currently available in this area, and the editors’…
The “contribution of assets” requirement of the Salini test was often overlooked by commentators and tribunals, probably due to its “I-know-it-when-I-see-it” nature. The recent award in KT Asia Investment Group B.V. v Republic of Kazakhstan, however, demonstrates that a failure to meet the contribution requirement may put to rest a claim of an offshore company…
and Michael Nueber, Schönherr Introduction A new version of the so-called “Vienna Rules” came into force on 1 July 2013. Due to practitioners’ broad acceptance of the Vienna Rules 2006, changes were made only with regard to specific matters. The major focus of the amendments lies on expediting the arbitration proceedings and addressing cost-related issues….
One of the most important legal developments in Latin America during the last few decades has been the expansion in the protection of fundamental rights. This has occurred not only with regard to the express recognition of new substantive rights into several national legal systems, but also regarding the creation of procedural remedies geared to…
I. Power To Sanction Courts generally enjoy power to enforce procedural rules and orders by various means, such as fines, adverse inferences, cost/fee awards, preclusion of evidence, and even default judgment. Surprisingly, when arbitrators employ such measures, they enter a legal frontier of unsettled law. Why? An arbitrator’s procedural power derives from private contract, not…
There has been a historical antipathy of banks towards arbitration. Banks (and other financial institutions) had no incentive or particular advantage to utilize private and quicker dispute resolution methods, such as mediation and arbitration. Well-run banks will normally be in possession of collateral security before money is made available to lenders or other customers and…
Hong Kong is one of the major hubs for international arbitration in Asia. Its position was strengthened when, in 2012, India added Hong Kong to the list of so-called “gazetted” states: only arbitral awards rendered in these states will be recognised and enforced in India under the New York Convention. The inclusion of Hong Kong…
and Ievgen Boiarskyi, Junior Associate at AstapovLawyers It is widely accepted that successful outcome of international commercial arbitration proceedings often depends on timely obtained provisional measures designed to protect either the lawful interests of the parties or property in dispute until the final arbitral award on the merits is issued. Although provisional measures may be…
Wolters Kluwer’s inaugural Kluwer Arbitration User Forum was appropriately held in the heart of legal London at the International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC), 70 Fleet Street on Tuesday. Attended by librarians, knowledge managers, PSLs, associates, partners and academics alike, the three-hour session proved to be a hit. “Very informative and thought-provoking”, said Nicholas Fletcher, Head…
